The fortune of having a father and a mother...
I have been extremely fortunate in life. I consider this body and mind of mine extremely blessed and holy, for through them I had the opportunity to meet and know two great sages who gave my existence true meaning.
"Twice-born" is the term used for those born into the Spirit. And without any particular merit on my part, this happened when I met my spiritual father and Master, Swami Muktananda, in 1973, who awakened my individual consciousness to Self-awareness. "Meditate on your Self, seek your Self, bow to your Self, honor your Self, worship your Self, for God lives in you, it is you..." This was the profound and liberating message he conveyed to me and allowed me to experience, and through which I was reborn into the Spirit.
During the period of spiritual growth, due to my particular nature, I felt the need to be nourished, cared for, and cared for, and this happened when, again by the grace of my Master, I met the noblest, most beautiful, wisest, and sweetest of mothers, my beloved spiritual mother Anasuya Devi.
The encounter occurred in a perilous and emotional way in 1975. From then on, I continued to frequent her assiduously for many years, remaining in her physical presence, constantly coming and going between Calcata and Jillellamudi, until her "departure" in 1985.
My Master had left his body in 1982, and in 1985, with the departure from the physical world of my beloved Amma, I was left completely orphaned... but no... I truly discovered the constant presence of my father and mother within me... As with our physical parents, who are present in us as a genetic heritage, Anasuya and Muktananda are present in me as Spirit and Consciousness.
The sublime miracle of their persistence within me is something that cannot be told or described... I can only weep with joy at perceiving their constant and solemn presence. Thus, their promise was kept and continuity established.
And in truth, any of us could say the exact same thing, since we are all forms of the divine, we are blissful Existence, Consciousness, Bliss, and nothing else.
But today I wanted to begin transcribing some memories, especially some significant phrases from the teachings I received. Not that the words themselves are important... but the implicit indications, the way they were transmitted, the sensation experienced in listening to them, the wonder and recognition of the truth manifested within them, yes!
Allow me to begin with some dialogues by Anasuya Devi, on topics that often perplex the minds of seekers, touching secret chords of their hearts.
Question: "What do you think of the rebirth of souls, the chain of successive lives..."
Amma: “Well... if you think there could be a chain of successive lives for the same soul, then you have to admit that the first existence in this chain must have a specific cause. Only the cause of the first life can be the cause of all subsequent lives... So whose original cause is it, and where does it arise from? I don't mean to say that rebirth is impossible, I'm just saying that it's not something we created. Ultimately, if you think about it, those who don't believe in rebirth see death through life, while those who believe in rebirth see life through death... (laughter)”
Question: “Have any of your disciples gone to foreign countries as missionaries, as Vivekananda (Ramakrishna's famous disciple from Calcutta) did?”
Amma: “I have no disciples (sishya); I have only sons (sishu). What they do is determined by the same Shakti (Divine Energy) that drives all creation. This Shakti makes one write a story or makes another do other things…. There is only one force that enables every agent to perform actions. There is no other power than that.”
Question: “Why are there pleasure and pain and all the other incompatible qualities?”
Amma: "Day and night are obviously both necessary. Without relativity, there could be no creation at all. All the qualities we embody are already there... they all derive from that Original Power. They could not exist in us if they did not already exist in That. Just as a playwright creates different characters, endowing each with the necessary characteristics... (laughter)"
So, my acting brothers, each of us embodies the characteristics necessary to play the specific part assigned to us... but it is the playwright himself who acts, who directs, who passes the lights, who sits as an audience, who applauds and cries and laughs...
Paolo D'Arpini - Committee for Lay Spirituality
"Twice-born" is the term used for those born into the Spirit. And without any particular merit on my part, this happened when I met my spiritual father and Master, Swami Muktananda, in 1973, who awakened my individual consciousness to Self-awareness. "Meditate on your Self, seek your Self, bow to your Self, honor your Self, worship your Self, for God lives in you, it is you..." This was the profound and liberating message he conveyed to me and allowed me to experience, and through which I was reborn into the Spirit.
During the period of spiritual growth, due to my particular nature, I felt the need to be nourished, cared for, and cared for, and this happened when, again by the grace of my Master, I met the noblest, most beautiful, wisest, and sweetest of mothers, my beloved spiritual mother Anasuya Devi.
The encounter occurred in a perilous and emotional way in 1975. From then on, I continued to frequent her assiduously for many years, remaining in her physical presence, constantly coming and going between Calcata and Jillellamudi, until her "departure" in 1985.
My Master had left his body in 1982, and in 1985, with the departure from the physical world of my beloved Amma, I was left completely orphaned... but no... I truly discovered the constant presence of my father and mother within me... As with our physical parents, who are present in us as a genetic heritage, Anasuya and Muktananda are present in me as Spirit and Consciousness.
The sublime miracle of their persistence within me is something that cannot be told or described... I can only weep with joy at perceiving their constant and solemn presence. Thus, their promise was kept and continuity established.
And in truth, any of us could say the exact same thing, since we are all forms of the divine, we are blissful Existence, Consciousness, Bliss, and nothing else.
But today I wanted to begin transcribing some memories, especially some significant phrases from the teachings I received. Not that the words themselves are important... but the implicit indications, the way they were transmitted, the sensation experienced in listening to them, the wonder and recognition of the truth manifested within them, yes!
Allow me to begin with some dialogues by Anasuya Devi, on topics that often perplex the minds of seekers, touching secret chords of their hearts.
Question: "What do you think of the rebirth of souls, the chain of successive lives..."
Amma: “Well... if you think there could be a chain of successive lives for the same soul, then you have to admit that the first existence in this chain must have a specific cause. Only the cause of the first life can be the cause of all subsequent lives... So whose original cause is it, and where does it arise from? I don't mean to say that rebirth is impossible, I'm just saying that it's not something we created. Ultimately, if you think about it, those who don't believe in rebirth see death through life, while those who believe in rebirth see life through death... (laughter)”
Question: “Have any of your disciples gone to foreign countries as missionaries, as Vivekananda (Ramakrishna's famous disciple from Calcutta) did?”
Amma: “I have no disciples (sishya); I have only sons (sishu). What they do is determined by the same Shakti (Divine Energy) that drives all creation. This Shakti makes one write a story or makes another do other things…. There is only one force that enables every agent to perform actions. There is no other power than that.”
Question: “Why are there pleasure and pain and all the other incompatible qualities?”
Amma: "Day and night are obviously both necessary. Without relativity, there could be no creation at all. All the qualities we embody are already there... they all derive from that Original Power. They could not exist in us if they did not already exist in That. Just as a playwright creates different characters, endowing each with the necessary characteristics... (laughter)"
So, my acting brothers, each of us embodies the characteristics necessary to play the specific part assigned to us... but it is the playwright himself who acts, who directs, who passes the lights, who sits as an audience, who applauds and cries and laughs...
Paolo D'Arpini - Committee for Lay Spirituality